[Kalin]

I'm not sure a PD bunkering strategy is possible at this stage of the game, he would cripple himself pretty badly economically if he tries that... and all the giants have to do is go around it. He does have a 5 province border with them afterall.

The best chance Ulm has at this stage against Jotun is to use pikeneers as cannon foddler. The pikeneers have a 6 range pike, which will give them the chance to repel the giant's assault. (Which is also why your guardian is doing okay against the giants, they have 4 range halberds. FYI: The giants uses 3 range jotun swords.)


If you can stall a bit for researching, try:

Destruction (Alt 4), is probably the most useful spell to help your guys hurt the giants.

Strength of giants (Enc 3) could also come in handy for the same reason. Although destruction is more effective for your situation (due to survivability of your troops vs his), it also takes longer to research. Not to mention, of course, they are best used together if you can pull it off.

Fire Arrows (Enc 4) is nice if you can get your smiths to use them (give them some extra fire gems to boost the levels), but keep in mind that you should hire normal archers or longbowmans (if you can) for this tactic. The crossbows and arbalests shoots too slowly to take full advantage of this spell.

If you're willing to sacrifice some earth gems you can also try Curse of Stones (alt 4, same as destruction), making his giants tired faster (although not as effective as it could be given their MR).

By itself, Magma bolt (evo 3) isn't too great... but if you combine it with destruction, it could do some damage to the giants...

Lastly, Legion of Steel (Con 3) isn't worth the trouble, if your troops gets hit, they will probably die due to the giant's strength.


Ideally, a battle should have the giants wielding length 3 jotun swords going against length 6 pikes. Since you can pack many of your guys into one square, and there's a pretty good chance the giants will tire themselves out attacking and being repelled, you will get in some serious hits after a few rounds. Even if he does beat you, he'll take some hard losses, which is much harder for him to replace than for you.




Note, edited to remove misinfo, I was a little confused there... no sense confusing everyone else with it. Thanks for pointing that out thejeff.